Thursday, June 7, 2012

Compete To Be "Last Family On Earth"

Just got a press release about a new reality competition show where families compete to be the last ones in an end-of-the-world-proof bunker on December 21, 2012 (if you subscribe to the whole Mayan calendar thing). From the release:

Viewers will help decide which families will die — and which one
lucky family will survive the end of the world — in a new Spike
TV reality competition series called “Last Family on Earth.”

Over
six episodes, families subscribing to the notion that the end of
civilization is set for Dec. 21 (as perhaps dictated by the Mayan
calendar) will compete for a spot in an underground bunker that the
network says has been built to withstand nearly any end-of-days
disaster. A panel of three survivalist-expert judges will help
determine which family is given the bad news that it’s going to be left
out to “die” each week by being left outside the bunker.

The competition will showcase survival techniques and
provide key information that like-minded viewers may also use in
preparation for doomsday. In
addition to endurance and physical skills, challenges will test the
contestants’ leadership abilities, integrity and character, the network
added.

“Last Family on Earth” not only will focus on a Mayan
interpretation of the apocalypse, but the show also promises to help
prime contestants for a variety of annihilation scenarios, including a
pandemic, global government or economic collapse, nuclear war, reactor
meltdown, solar flares, massive asteroids, lethal climate change, a pole
shift, calamitous earthquakes — even widespread anarchy.

5 comments:

I know and you know that apocalyptic prophecies are bullshit, but the idea of getting families who genuinely believe the world is ending to compete to see who lives and who dies leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter for me. I only mention it 'cause sometimes there's a show--I won't say Televised Art, 'cause what's Televised Art? But sometimes there's a show. And I'm talkin' about Last Family on Earth here. Sometimes there's a show that, well, it's the show for its time 'n place. It fits right in there. And that's Last Family on Earth. Last Family on Earth, on Spike TV. And even if it's a stupid show—and Last Family on Earth is most certainly that, quite possibly the stupidest on Spike TV, which would place it high in the runnin' for stupidest cablewide. Sometimes there's a show... Sometimes there's a show. Well, I lost m'train of thought here.

Fear not, John. Nobody "believes" that some random apocalypse will miraculously manifest on December 21st, or on any other specific date. Or even by any specific mechanism on even the loosest timeline.

Finding people who will make for good reality TV and can be produced to look like they take imminent apocalypse seriously will be the genius of this show.

Like making a group of random hardbodies look like they are really falling in love with the Bachelorette, on The Bachelorette, is the genius of that show.

That's a fairytale, and so is the end of the world... whether it falls at the end of the 13th b'ak'tun or on whatever Magical Date is selected on December 22nd.

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